Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 7 Articles
Subsyndromal symptomatic depression (SSD) is a subtype of subthreshold depressive and also lead to significant\r\npsychosocial functional impairment as same as major depressive disorder (MDD). Several studies have suggested that SSD is\r\na transitory phenomena in the depression spectrum and is thus considered a subtype of depression. However, the\r\npathophysioloy of depression remain largely obscure and studies on SSD are limited. The present study compared the\r\nexpression profile and made the classification with the leukocytes by using whole-genome cRNA microarrays among drugfree\r\nfirst-episode subjects with SSD, MDD, and matched controls (8 subjects in each group). Support vector machines (SVMs)\r\nwere utilized for training and testing on candidate signature expression profiles from signature selection step. Firstly, we\r\nidentified 63 differentially expressed SSD signatures in contrast to control (P,= 5.0E-4) and 30 differentially expressed MDD\r\nsignatures in contrast to control, respectively. Then, 123 gene signatures were identified with significantly differential\r\nexpression level between SSD and MDD. Secondly, in order to conduct priority selection for biomarkers for SSD and MDD\r\ntogether, we selected top gene signatures from each group of pair-wise comparison results, and merged the signatures\r\ntogether to generate better profiles used for clearly classify SSD and MDD sets in the same time. In details, we tried different\r\ncombination of signatures from the three pair-wise compartmental results and finally determined 48 gene expression\r\nsignatures with 100% accuracy. Our finding suggested that SSD and MDD did not exhibit the same expressed genome\r\nsignature with peripheral blood leukocyte, and blood cellââ?¬â??derived RNA of these 48 gene models may have significant value\r\nfor performing diagnostic functions and classifying SSD, MDD, and healthy controls....
Aims. To investigate the postprandial changes in serum lipoproteins and blood glucose and to verify whether different nutrient\r\ncomposition of the meal elicits different response in patients with (MetS) and without (MetS-) metabolic syndrome. Research\r\nDesign andMethods. 50MetS patients and 50 age- and sex-matchedMetS- consumed a regular lunch chosen among those more\r\nsimilar to their usual diet. Blood was drawn in the morning after 12-hour fasting and 2 and 4:30 hours after the meal. Results.\r\nSerum triglycerides increased more in MetS (35%, 4:30 hours after the meal) than in MetS- (29%), HDL-cholesterol decreased\r\n2 hours after the meal in both groups (-4% and -5%, resp.). Blood sugar similarly increased in both groups (19%, 2 hours\r\nafter the meal in MetS and 17% in MetS-) and plasma insulin increased more and remained high longer in MetS (73.5 and\r\n52.3 �µU/mL, 2 and 4:30 hours after the meal) than in MetS- (46.7 and 21.6 �µU/mL). Difference in nutrient composition of the\r\nmeal (carbohydrate 57%, fat 28% versus carbohydrate 45%, fat 35%) was not associated with differences in postprandial levels\r\nof triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, glucose, and insulin within each group. Conclusions. As compared with MetS-, MetS patients\r\nshow a greater hypertriglyceridemic and hyperinsulinemic response to a regular lunch whatever the carbohydrate or fat content of\r\nthe meal....
Background: Elevated total white blood cell (WBC) count is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and\r\ndeath. Aerobic exercise is associated with lower total WBC, neutrophil, and monocyte counts. However, no studies have\r\nevaluated the effect of the amount of aerobic exercise (dose) on total WBC and WBC subfraction counts.\r\nPurpose: To examine the effects of 3 different doses of aerobic exercise on changes in total WBC and WBC subfraction\r\ncounts and independent effects of changes in fitness, adiposity, markers of inflammation (IL-6, TNF-a, C-reactive protein),\r\nfasting glucose metabolism, and adiponectin.\r\nMethods: Data from 390 sedentary, overweight/obese postmenopausal women from the DREW study were used in these\r\nanalyses. Women were randomized to a non-exercise control group or one of 3 exercise groups: energy expenditure of 4, 8,\r\nor 12 kcal kg21?week21 (KKW) for 6 months at an intensity of 50% VO2peak.\r\nResults: A dose-dependent decrease in total WBC counts (trend P = 0.002) was observed with a significant decrease in the\r\n12KKW group (2163.16140.0 cells/mL; mean695%CI) compared with the control (138.66144.7 cells/mL). A similar response\r\nwas seen in the neutrophil subfraction (trend P = 0.001) with a significant decrease in the 12KKW group (2152.66115.1\r\ncells/mL) compared with both the control and 4KKW groups (96.46119.0 and 21.9695.3 cells/mL, respectively) and in the\r\n8KKW group (2102.46125.0 cells/mL) compared with the control. When divided into high/low baseline WBC categories\r\n(median split), a dose-dependent decrease in both total WBCs (P = 0.003) and neutrophils (P,0.001) was observed in\r\nwomen with high baseline WBC counts. The effects of exercise dose on total WBC and neutrophil counts persisted after\r\naccounting for significant independent effects of change in waist circumference and IL-6.\r\nConclusion: Aerobic exercise training reduces total WBC and neutrophil counts, in a dose-dependent manner, in\r\noverweight/obese postmenopausal women and is especially beneficial for those with systemic low grade inflammation....
Multipotent stem/progenitor cells with similar developmental potentials have been independently identified from diverse human\r\ntissue/organ cultures. The increasing recognition of the vascular/perivascular origin of mesenchymal precursors suggested blood\r\nvessels being a systemic source of adult stem/progenitor cells. Our group and other laboratories recently isolated multiple\r\nstem/progenitor cell subsets from blood vessels of adult human tissues. Each of the three structural layers of blood vessels: intima,\r\nmedia, and adventitia has been found to include at least one precursor population, that is, myogenic endothelial cells (MECs),\r\npericytes, and adventitial cells (ACs), respectively. MECs and pericytes efficiently regenerate myofibers in injured and dystrophic\r\nskeletalmuscles as well as improve cardiac function aftermyocardial infarction. The applications of ACs in vascular remodeling and\r\nangiogenesis/vasculogenesis have been examined. Our recent finding that MECs and pericytes can be purified from cryogenically\r\nbanked human primary muscle cell culture further indicates their potential applications in personalized regenerative medicine....
Numerous studies have shown the benefits of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the repair of spinal cord injury (SCI) model\r\nand on behavioral improvement, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, to investigate possible mechanisms\r\nby which MSCs contribute to the alleviation of neurologic deficits, we examined the potential effect of human umbilical cord\r\nblood-derived MSCs (hUCB-MSCs) on the endogenous cell proliferation and oligogenesis after SCI. SCI was injured by contusion\r\nusing a weight-drop impactor and hUCB-MSCs were transplanted into the boundary zone of the injured site. Animals received\r\na daily injection of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) for 7 days after treatment to identity newly synthesized cells of ependymal\r\nand periependymal cells that immunohistochemically resembled stem/progenitor cells was evident. Behavior analysis revealed\r\nthat locomotor functions of hUCB-MSCs group were restored significantly and the cavity volume was smaller in the MSCstransplanted\r\nrats compared to the control group. In MSCs-transplanted group, TUNEL-positive cells were decreased and BrdUpositive\r\ncells were significantly increased rats compared with control group. In addition, more of BrdU-positive cells expressed\r\nneural stem/progenitor cell nestin and oligo-lineage cell such as NG2, CNPase, MBP and glial fibrillary acidic protein typical\r\nof astrocytes in the MSC-transplanted rats. Thus, endogenous cell proliferation and oligogenesis contribute to MSC-promoted\r\nfunctional recovery following SCI....
This study aimed to evaluate the progress in reduction of prevalence of anemia in rural Australia. It also investigates the prevalence\r\nof hypoviscosity in anaemia with a view to determine the fraction of anaemic patients at risk of drug-inducible exacerbation of\r\nanemia. Archived clinical pathology data (N = 130, 354) for the period of 1999 to 2008 were utilized. The prevalence of anemia and\r\nhypoviscosity was evaluated by working out (i) the number that fell within anemia definition as a percentage of the population and\r\n(ii) the number that fell within hypoviscosity definition as a percentage of anemic patients. The prevalence in anemic diabetes and\r\ndyslipidaemia was further determined. There was progressive reduction in anemia from 6.1% to 3.2% over the ten years period.\r\nPrevalence of anemia is statistically significantly higher in males than in females (P < 0.0001), but protein level is lower in anemic\r\nfemales than in anemic males (P < 0.01). The results further show that up to 75% of anemic patients may benefit from NSAID\r\nor salicylates. This paper highlights differences between genders. It suggests more concerted effort in men�s health and speculates a\r\nnew factor to investigate in women�s health....
Two patients with diabetic nephropathy were diagnosed with primary central nervous system posttransplant Epstein-Barr-virusassociated\r\nlymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) 3 years after renal transplantation. The histological diagnoses of the isolated brain\r\ntumors were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and plasmacytoma. Considerable co-morbidity precluded intensive chemotherapy.\r\nThe first patient with lymphoid CD20+ PTLD had a partial resection of her tumor performed. She was treated with 4 weekly\r\ndoses of rituximab, ganciclovir and prednisolone; the posttransplant immune suppression (tacrolimus) was reduced. After 4 weeks\r\nof treatment a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated complete regression of the CNS lesion. The patient continues\r\nto receive rituximab (every second month), valgangciclovir and low-dose prednisolone. Twenty-two months after initiation of\r\ntherapy, she is still in complete remission. The second patient was only treated with craniospinal irradiation involving the medulla\r\nto the second cervical vertebra and valgangciclovir. Moreover, the posttransplant immune suppression was reduced. A new MRI\r\ntwo months after initiation of therapy showed a complete regression of the lesions in the CNS; this was again demonstrated by\r\na MRI after 19 months. These 2 cases illustrate interesting alternative treatments of PTLD. To our knowledge, an EBV-associated\r\nPTLD of plasmacytic origin isolated to the CNS has never been described before....
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